


Howling in the Moonlight

by purplesocrates



Category: Hannibal (TV), Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Angst, M/M, Werewolves, canon divergence (I guess), drunken talking, i don't even know what this is.., sex but not explicit (i know so unlike me)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-06
Updated: 2017-08-05
Packaged: 2018-11-09 20:22:17
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 11,875
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11112147
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/purplesocrates/pseuds/purplesocrates
Summary: Ok so this was after a conversation on tumblr!  So this is set post season 2 Hannibal is in BSHCI Remus survived the battle of Hogwarts but his family didn't.  He has come to America to search out a stronger form of wolfbane.  Obviously he moves next to Will, obviously he turns into a wolf and escapes the shed he was in, obviously he ends up naked on Will's doorstep....I have no idea....





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> FEEDBACK IS NEEDED PLEASE TELL ME TO STOP BECAUSE OTHERWISE I WON'T!!!!

_The beast ran, it ran through the door splintering the wood, it ran out into the almost darkness, moonlight glinting on the snow making it look like crushed diamonds.  Leaving prints heavy and deep despite the speed it ran, on and on it ran into the forest.  The feeling of freedom, of the thrill of the chase, of movement, of speed was all consuming.  There was a scent on the air that the beast could not resist, he followed it on and on through the night.  Delving further into its own nature and the forest, on and on it ran and ran feeling the cold air against its fur as the heat of the chase melted the snow into droplets of water crystallising in the air._

_The beast tore at the creature feeling the heat leave its body, warm blood trickled down his fangs, it was life and death and everything.  The beast howled at his freedom, thanking the moon for its strength for giving it life._

_\--------_

He woke shivering, the sun was a slither in the sky, the light was that half-light of a winter dawn that made everything look grey.  His consciousness slowly returned to him, painfully clawing its way back from the depths of his mind where it had been forced the night before.  His bones ached, his muscles screamed and his skin was torn.  If he could find the energy he would have wept but he was out of tears.  He was wrung dry.  Part of him thought he could just lie here and wait to be buried under the snow, a comforting freezing blanket ending it all for him with an ice cold kiss.

Somewhere the wolf howled at him to get up, somewhere he saw the slither of a smile from someone he used to love, a smile from someone that would make him feel invincible.  He groaned and began the laborious process of asking his limbs to move. 

He was shaking now, realising he was naked and in imminent danger of dying of exposure, the thought being less appealing now he was fully awake, he started to move.  He had no idea where he was or how far from the shed he was.  He looked around and saw the wolf’s tracks he followed them hoping that they might lead back vaguely in the right direction.  Panic began to rise then, the wolf can cover a hell of a lot more ground than his broken human form at the best of times let alone when he was naked, bleeding and bruised.  He was going to die if he didn’t find some kind of shelter soon.

 ------

 

Will woke up to Buster scratching and barking.  All last night he had strange dreams of hearing howling and feeling the moon press down on his skin.  The sun was coming up, it was still early, maybe Buster would settle. 

Scratching and more whining.

He groaned and stood up, grabbing a jumper and pulling it on he made his way to the door and let Buster out who did not get far just to the naked, unconscious man at the bottom of the porch steps.

Will went inside and grabbed the nearest blanket, he ran outside again and covered the shivering man with it.  He felt for a pulse, yes, slow but there.

“Are you awake?  Sir, can you hear me?”  Will gently shook the man.  He stirred, eyes opened to reveal an all too familiar brown that made Will wince slightly. “Can you stand?”

The man nodded and Will helped him up and they slowly made their way inside.  Will deposited the man in the chair by the fire which he went about lighting.  He then went into the kitchen to make tea.  When he returned the man’s almost epileptic shivering had calmed to a somewhat gentler body spasm.

“Here,” Will said and handed him the hot tea which he sipped.  Looking at the man, he was covered in bruises and cuts.  “Let me get my first aid kit.”

“No need.”  The man’s voice was low and graveled, he had an accent and Will winced again at the sound of it. “Honestly, thank you so much. If I could just trouble you for some clothes I can be on my way.”

“I think you need to go to hospital.  How did you get here?”

He smiled, “where is here exactly?”

“Wolf Trap” Will answered he was not a stranger to waking up strange places so did not even blink at the question.

“That’s good.  I just moved here.”

“Which house?”

“The old cottage on Starveal lane.”

“That’s not far I can drive you back.  First though we need to get you warmed up.”  Will left him and went to find clothes, he returned with sweatpants, a t-shirt and a thick jumper.  The man took them gratefully and changed as Will stoked the fire with more wood.  The man then fell down in the chair again and Will wrapped the blanket around his shoulders and handed him his mug of tea.  “Finish this you need it.”

The man smiled, “thank you, you are too kind.”

“Do you know what happened?  How you ended up out there?”  Will asked, gently, implying the naked.

“Not sure.”  Remus was pretty sure this man was a muggle but there was something about him that was slightly off somehow, perhaps if he had been in less of a state he would have realised.

“I’m Will, Will Graham.”

“Remus, Remus Lupin, pleasure to meet you Will and again thank you.” Unusual name too, Will thought, it’s like he couldn’t escape.

"Do you sleepwalk?  Is that what happened?"  Will asked again gently, being no stranger to waking up in places he could not remember going to.

"Yeah something like that.  Sorry to have inconvenienced you like this."

"Honestly it's fine, are you sure I can't take you to a hospital?"

"I will be fine, warming up already."

Will smiled, he understood the need for privacy, the embarrassment of not being able to control where your body took you, he knew it all too well.

 

Will drove Remus back to his house which was a small cottage.  Remus was quiet on the drive home but Will didn’t mind and was surprised at the comfortableness of their mutual silence.  When he pulled up he could see the shed door had been pushed off its hinges, splinters of wood on the snow.  They got out of the car and Remus noticed Will noticing the shed door.

“What happened?”  Will asked.

“Oh it was like that when I moved here.”  Remus lied.

“I can have a look at it if you want, I’m good at fixing things.” As he said this Will was already making his way to the shed door.

“Honestly, you don’t have to.”  Remus said thinking that he could just use magic to fix it later with a stronger locking spell so he couldn’t get out again.

“It looks like it was forced off the hinges from the inside.”

Remus looked quizzical, how could he possibly know that?  Will laughed “sorry I work with the FBI, I look at crimes scenes a lot.”

“That must be hard.”  Remus thought of all the things he had seen during both wizarding wars and he couldn’t imagine looking at that for a job, on purpose all the time.

“It can be.”  Will sighed.  “Anyway we should get you inside, don’t want you getting cold again.”

“Yes.”  Remus said relieved to change the subject and get Will away from the shed.

They made their way inside, Remus made them both tea even though Will thought he should probably be resting.  They sat down in Remus’ small lounge, a single trunk in the corner.

“Haven’t had a chance to unpack yet.”  Remus said shyly.

“When did you move here?”

“A few weeks ago but I’ve been pre-occupied.”  _With turning into a wolf_ , Remus thought.

"What do you do?" Will asked sipping his tea.

"I used to teach" his thoughts turned to Hogwarts and the feeling of coming home at last, those short few months.  Even being with the order again had felt right, but that was before. "Now I mostly write for journals."  He didn't say magic journals.

"Any particular subject?"

"Lunar cycles mostly that type of thing."  It had been some time since Remus had had a conversation with a muggle, he wasn't particularly good at it.  Did muggles even know about lunar cycles?

"Really?"  Will looked skeptical.

"Yeah, you know movements of stars and things."

"Astronomy?"

That's the word they used wasn't it? How could he not remember that? "Yeah exactly."  Remus looked at Will and wondered if there wasn't a trace of wizard in him, he seemed a bit off.

"Is that why you moved out here? Stargazing?"

"Something like that.  It is also remote I needed space, room to breathe."

"I know the feeling well."  Will smiled and thought of other brown eyes that looked like Remus', the slightly wolfish grin made him wince slightly. "Well I should be going.  If you need anything, you know where I am."

"Thanks."

Will finished his tea and placed the cup down on the small table next to his chair, he stood up, gaze wandering to the broken shed.  "If you need tools or help with that let me know."

"Thank you I am sure I will manage."

Will held out his hand awkwardly and Remus smiled and shook it.  "I have whiskey too if you like."

Remus laughed "that I may well take you up on."

Will withdrew his hand and gave Remus an odd look and then seemed to dismiss the thought.  He left and Remus watched as he got in his car and drove away.  Remus sighed, retrieved his wand from his trunk and went outside to fix the shed.

 

\--------

 

Once the full moon cycle was done and he had used a stronger spell on the shed this time and the wolf had been caged, he decided he should pay Will a visit to thank him.  He decided to bring him a bottle of fire-whisky, he had magiced the label to show something Scottish.  He apparated close to Will's house then walked the rest of the way it was a lovely clear night, bright crescent moon and shining stars.  He heard the barking as he approached and the Will appeared on the porch steps.

"Thought I'd bring your clothes back, I washed them, and you mentioned you liked whisky."  Remus said holding up the bottle.

Will laughed and walked down to meet him taking the clothes from Remus.  "Did you walk here?"  Will asked as more dogs spilled out of the house and were smelling Remus with interest.

"Yeah it was a nice night.  How many dogs do you have?"

"I tend to pick up strays or they pick up me.  Seven at last count.  Come in."

Will led Remus up the stairs and into the house, he got all the dogs to go to their beds but they all seemed to have one eye on Remus. Will poured them both some whiskey and handed a tumbler to Remus they settled in the lounge.

"Wow, this is strong stuff."  Will breathed as it burnt down his throat.

"Yeah not for the faint hearted."

"How have you been?"

"You mean have I had any more night wanderings? No!"

"Good.  I'm glad."

"You didn't seem that fazed?"

Will laughed "I have been known to have been found in strange places late at night with no idea how I got there, I understand."

"Really?"

"Yeah slight case of encephalitis."

Remus had no idea what that was so he just nodded as if he did. "Now? You are better?"

Will laughed "yeah I suppose still scarred but better.  I thought you may have looked me up?  It's strange to meet someone who doesn't recognise my name."

"Should I?"

"Does the name Hannibal Lecter mean anything to you?  The Chesapeake Ripper?"

Remus shook his head he didn't tend to follow muggle news "no should it."

"He was a serial killer of some renown, he's in an institution now, gave himself up here, in front of my house."

"You knew him."

"Some might say intimately."

Remus raised an eyebrow at that, they had more in common than he thought. "I knew someone who was accused of being a monster I thought he was for a long time."

"But he wasn't in the end?"

"No, in the end he died a hero."

"Hannibal is definitely firmly in the monster category."

Remus looked at Will then and saw a similarly broken man. "It's usually quite hard to tell monster from man in my experience."

Will laughed and drank another sip of what he was starting to think of as firewater it burnt as it made its way down his throat but he liked the pain it was distracting and familiar. "I suppose everyone has a little bit of monster in them."

Remus had a sudden worry that Will knew what he was. "Some more than others."  Remus gauged Will's reaction just a smirk, no he couldn't possibly know...

"Ain't that the truth?"

"It's strange though isn't it that you can be looking at someone and have no idea who they really are?  How blinded we can become."  Remus thought of Peter, sweet and innocent right up until he wasn't.  He thought of himself and the monster that lurked within not just the wolf but the man, how he had wanted to kill Peter that day in the shack, how he had wanted to let the bloodlust rise up and take him.

"I think sometimes we blind ourselves as much as they blind us.  Even after I knew who he was I still, what he was...even now...I still feel him around me, in my mind, sometimes my thoughts have his voice."

Remus shivered he knew that feeling all too well. "When I thought that Sirius, that was his name, was a monster when I thought he betrayed me and my best friends those who I considered family I still loved him.  You can't just turn it off."

"Did you love him more?"  These words left Will's mouth unbidden, he looked at the whiskey and wondered what he was drinking.  "I was supposed to get close to him, to catch him, I got too close.  I knew exactly what kind of monster he was.  I also knew what kind of man he was and what kind of monster I am."

"It's all the same in the end though isn't it?  Love and hate, monster and man."

Will laughed and it made Remus smile at the sound of it and he realised it had been so long since he had smiled.  Dark hair, beautiful smile and a tendency of picking up strays seemed to follow him wherever he went.

"Is that why you moved here? To escape?"

"Yes." Remus wondered at how well he had managed to escape it all sat here with this man who reminded him of everything he still ached for.

"Never works though does it?  I have thought about leaving but I feel like he would just follow me wherever I went anyway.  It's like having a ghost on your back."

Muggles really have no idea how ghosts work, Remus thought. "More?" Remus held out the bottle and re-filled Will's glass.

"Where is this stuff from its strong?"

Remus laughed "special place in Scotland."

"Well thank you for sharing it."

"Thank you for picking me up from your doorstep."

"Actually it's Buster you should thank he found you." Will pointed at the small dog who was snoring in his basket.

Remus laughed "well thank you Buster." He held up his glass at the dog who did not stir.  "So you work at the FBI, what's that like?"

"It's interesting, well it can be.  I teach mostly now, I am trotted out for the truly horrible stuff.  I have a unique skill set."

Remus raised an eyebrow at that "do tell."

Will laughed "I suppose you could call it a really good imagination at least that's what my boss calls it.  I have the ability to take on the point of view of others, especially killers as it turns out, I can understand them."

That was it, that was what had been bothering Remus ever since he met Will, the something off.  He was empathetic, probably a drop of wizard blood somewhere in those veins after all.

"That must get tiring though, thinking about violence and killing all day."  Remus said this as a fact, he knew it all too well, he spent much of his time reliving violence, then there was the violence his body did to itself on a regular basis.

"Yes, it can, it does." Then Will wondered if he was capable of thinking about anything else, Hannibal saw it straight away that darkness that lurked just under the surface.

"Have you ever thought about doing something else?"

"Constantly." Will laughed "But every time I try to leave I somehow get pulled back in.  I was a cop before but I was shot, so I moved here and ended up doing this.  Just another version of the same.  Can't escape it."

"Teaching must give you some respite from it though.  I loved teaching I wish I could go back to it in some ways."

"It's just another way to think about killing, maybe if I taught something else!  What did you teach, astronomy?"

Remus almost told him and then remembered "something like that."  Will gave him a strange look and Remus thought he should probably be drinking less around someone who obviously knows a lie when he hears it. "It's complicated."

"I am getting that sense."

"Where are you from originally?"

"New Orleans."  Ahh Remus thought, of course that makes sense, a lot of old magic lines in that part of the world. "Why do you look as if you just figured something out?  Is it my accent? The slight drawl."  Will laughed "always gives me away."

Remus smiled "something like that."

"You are being very evasive for a man who I found naked on my doorstep."  Will was slurring his words and the drawl was definitely strong now.

"Well I must attempt to keep some secrets." Remus laughed.

"You are thinking something though, about me...what is it?"

"Can't you tell me?" Remus looked at him and Will felt a familiar stare, a feeling of being understood absolutely and completely, he shook his head.

"No, I mean maybe if you hadn't given me this fire water then I could!  You want to ask me something, you can, ask me anything."

"I just wondered about your family if you even had anyone who had similar abilities to you, or anyone who was a bit strange by mu- ..by normal standards." Remus had to be careful he was starting to slip it was that smile and that hair and the whiskey.

Will pointed at him "there you almost said a word then and stopped yourself what were you going to say?"

"Nothing answer the question."

Will narrowed his eyes at Remus "no as far as I know I am the only one of my family to have this ability.  Though I didn't know my family well, never knew my mother and my father was difficult man."  The mother, Remus thought, definitely witch blood in those veins. "You did it again, that nod and look of satisfaction, what are you thinking?"

"Trust me you wouldn't believe me if I told you and if I told you then I'd have to make you forget."

"How would you do that?"

"That's part of what I can't tell you!"  Remus laughed and realised he needed to change the subject and sober up. "How long have you lived here?"

"Don't change the subject."  Will slurred.

"I wasn't aware I was."

Will thought about the other man he knew who talked in circles with a soothing accent and closed his eyes leaning his head back against the chair he sighed. "Fine, tell me about your family then."

Remus smirked "that is a long story, let’s just say I never quite fit in.  Something happened when I was young and we were all forever changed by it, never the same.  I think I scared them."

Will opened his eyes and looked at Remus who had a faraway look on his face "what happened?"

"I was ill, still am, I have turns I suppose you could say every month, it’s like I almost become someone else."

"The sleepwalking?"

"Yes and I have been known to be violent.  I don't remember any of it afterwards.  It can mostly be kept under control with medication but sometimes it’s stronger than any of my attempts to control it.  Partly why I came here, possibility of a new medication."

Will was looking at Remus, the scars on his face, the scars that were on his arms and legs, the bone wrenching exhaustion behind those eyes. "I know what it's like for people to fear you, it can be lonely."

"Yeah it can."

They both thought of their mirrors, the two people who had understood them completely, their exact opposites and undoing.  "It's perhaps good we found each other then." 

"Cheers to that." Remus leant across and they clinked their glasses together.

"This Sirius how did you know him?"

Remus suddenly had the clearest vision of long summer days in the grounds of Hogwarts, lazily sitting under trees pretending to study while stealing glances.  Kissing and groping in hidden corners, hands, lips and teeth.  Running in the moonlight with a stag, large black dog and a rat.  "As you said some would say intimately.  We were at school together, friends since we were children.  Sirius, James and Peter were my family."

Will recognized the look of wistful longing of Remus' face. "What happened?"

"It's a long story.  James and Lily they were murdered by a man who was most assuredly a monster. He had been after them for a long time, I thought Sirius had told him where they were.  I thought him guilty of a lot of things that he wasn't.  It was Peter, he was the one betrayed them."

"How did Sirius die?"

"Too suddenly and fighting for James and Lily's son."  That sudden drop, that veil fluttering between life and death.

"I'm sorry." 

"It was a long time ago.  All of it seems lifetimes ago now.  What about Hannibal?  Have you seen him?"

Will grimaced "I've thought about it but no I haven't seen him.  I am not sure I can."

"You want to?"

Will's smile was strained "yes."

Remus nodded "if you could forget would you?"

"If I could forget Hannibal? Everything he did? That's not possible he is scar tissue on brain now, we are conjoined."

"If you could just wish it all away somehow, if someone could just wave a magic wand and take all the memories away."

"Like a genie in a bottle?"

"Yes if you like."

"Are you telling me you are genie?"

Remus laughed "no!  I am not a genie.  Would you though if you could?"

Will felt as if the idea of Hannibal no longer being a part of himself was akin to losing a limb, they were one and the same now.  "No it would be like losing a limb.  It would be like choosing to chop off an arm."

Remus smiled, he knew that feeling well. "Just have to drink through the pain then."

Will laughed "yes always a good option.  What about you?  Would you forget it all if you could?"

Remus thought of Harry's face "no."

"Where is James and Lily's son now?"

He really was a very good legilimence. He just had no idea he was, Remus thought. “He has his own life now grown up and happy, he had to battle his own demons but I think he did it better than any of us."

"And Peter?"

"A victim of his own success."  Remus laughed bitterly. "Gone."

"It's hard to have those good memories tainted."

How had no one noticed the magic in this man's veins, Remus thought, muggles could be so oblivious.  Mind you maybe they had and this is how they decided to use it, to catch killers.  Interesting.

"Yes, they aren't all tainted though, I got some back when I realised Sirius was not the one who betrayed us.  There were a lot of good memories with him."  Remus laughed and thought of that smile again in dark corners, hands and breathy whispers of his name.  Will smiled and felt a shiver of pleasure down his spine, it was harder to control his empathy when he had been drinking.   “What about Hannibal? Do you have any good memories of him?”

Will sighed “ours was an affair of the mind mostly.  We understood each other, both the exact opposite of the other.  To see yourself like that in someone can be very intoxicating.  He got under my skin, well further, into my bones I think.  I can still feel him thinking about me, it’s as if, if I wanted to, I could just wander into his mind, meet him in one of the rooms he told me about or maybe one we were both in once. If I let myself…”

“Sharing dreams and mind spaces is rare, when it happens it’s something to be savored.”

Will smiled but it didn’t reach his eyes this time “you sound like him.”

“Do I?”

“He just accepted this connection between us, as an inevitability, for me it took longer, I think I’m still in the process of figuring it out.  You seem not to find any of this particularly strange.”

“Strange is relative, my life has been very strange by most people’s standards.”  The life of a werewolf wizard pretty much sets the bar for weird, Remus thought.

“I think my strange is pretty strange, he was a serial killer and I – and I – I don’t know what I was to him or what we were.”

“He was more than just a killer though, he was also a man you said so yourself.  It sounds to me as if he let you see more of him that he did anyone else.”

Will smiled “he said that to me once, right before he stabbed me and left me bleeding to death in his kitchen.”  Will didn’t mention Abigail, some wounds were just too private he felt her smile though warm and free just behind his eyes.

Remus raised an eyebrow “he stabbed you?”

Will nodded and drank more whiskey “yeah that’s what happens when you get into bed with a killer.”

“You survived though, you didn’t die, did he mean for that to happen?”

“He knew where to cut.  He was a surgeon once.”

Remus drank his whiskey and wondered if he had met his match in darkness.   “Fuck.”

Will laughed “yeah sorry bit of a conversation stopper that one.”

“I am just surprised to meet someone who is possibly more fucked up than me.  It’s rare.”

“Let’s drink to that.”  Will clinked his glass against Remus’ and they both laughed.

"I need to piss." Remus said and broke then both from their revelry.

"Upstairs first door on the left."  Will waved vaguely in the direction of the stairs.  Remus stood up, swaying slightly and Will laughed at him.  He smirked and put his glass down on the table and righted himself he made his way to the stairs.  Will watched him swaying and thought perhaps water was a good idea.  He got up and made his way unsteadily to the kitchen and got two glasses of water.  He heard the toilet flush after a while and heavy footsteps coming down the stairs.

"In the kitchen, thought water might be needed!" Will shouted and Remus meandered into the kitchen.  "Here."  Will handed him a glass which he took and downed the water, Will did the same.

"Thanks."  Remus handed the glass back to Will who put them both in the sink. 

"No problem."

"I guess I should probably go."  Remus said the fog starting to clear.

"I think you may be too drunk to walk."  Will was looking at Remus as he swayed slightly on the counter.

"Ahhh yes of course I walked here." Remus had apparated a few yards from the house but Will didn't know that and of course he probably was too drunk to apparate or walk at this point.

"Yes you walked here!  Do you even own a car?"  Will hadn't seen one at the house.

"No can't drive."

"Why are you living out in the middle of nowhere when you can't drive? How do you get around?"

"I have my ways." Remus narrowed his eyes and said this in the best Sirius-esq voice he could muster.  "You ask a lot of questions."

"Can't help it sorry, professional habit."

"Ahh of course once an FBI man always an FBI man."

"Something like that.  Stay, if you like, I can offer you a sofa?"

Remus weighed up apparating drunk, walking home in the cold or staying on a sofa and decided his best option was to stay despite how Will was making him feel.  Melancholy and memory were mixing so well in the air it was intoxicating and he decided that he didn't want to leave just yet, he wanted to breathe in the air a little longer.  Remus realised he was staring but couldn't seem to stop, his hand reached out to touch Will's hair. Will didn't stop him. They just stood there for a moment looking at each other questions hung in the air between them. 

"This is a bad idea." Will whispered.

“Perhaps.”  Remus smiled that wolfish grin again which made Will’s stomach flip.  “Don’t you miss it?”

“Miss what?” Will smiled his voice was cracked with pain, breath laced with whiskey and it reminded Remus of an older Sirius, the later incarnation that was filled with pain and regrets, lost time stretched like an ocean between drowning them both.

“Having someone, not being alone.”  Remus suddenly felt the hollow ache of loneliness, it was a feeling he was more than used to in his life but right now he felt more alone than he ever had in his life. 

“I’m not sure I am ever alone.”  Will felt haunted, Hannibal always just behind his shoulder, smiling serenely, holding his heart out like a gift, Will unsure whether he could hold such a weight in his hands, bloody and still beating as it was.

Remus saw the flash of memory behind Will’s eyes “he’s not here, it’s just you and me.”

“And all our ghosts.”  Remus suddenly looked as haunted as Will felt.

“That’s not how ghosts work.” Will gave him a questioning look. “Trust me.”

Will closed his eyes and sighed.

Remus closed the distance between them and gently kissed Will, it was a kiss of desperation for missed lovers. The wish that lips belonged to others lips exchanged between them. They parted and Will smiled.

“What was he like? Sirius.”  Will asked his voice was soft and laced with a sadness they both shared.

Remus smiled “in some ways like you, dark hair and a tendency to pick up strays, he was wild though, untamed, he was always moving, a blur of energy.  What about Hannibal?”

Will laughed softly, Remus still had his hand in Will’s hair and he leant into the touch. “Smoke.”  Will replied suddenly taking in a sharp breath he closed his eyes to stop the tears forming.  Remus cupped Will’s face with both of his hands and gently kissed each closed eye.

“I could take it away you know, if you wanted me to.”  Remus’ voice was a deep whisper that seeped into Will’s skin covering some of the scars with a surface level comfort.

Will opened his eyes and looked into the replying gaze, deep brown eyes and something else, a spark so deep it could almost be missed.  “Who are you?”  Will breathed.

Remus smiled “smoke.”

Will looked away a tear falling from his eye and he winced “don’t say that.”

 “I’m sorry.”  Remus kissed him gently still holding his face, “do you want me to stop?”

Will could feel himself breaking, pieces of him falling off, slipping from his body like ash, dissolving under this man’s touch, fragments drifting off into the air.  Remus just breathed them in.

“Is this just us both being scared to be lonely?” 

“Does it matter?”  Remus smiled.

“No.”  Will kissed him, grasped at him hoping for salvation knowing it would never come but perhaps there could be a moment of uncomplicated comfort. 

 

Will pushed Remus toward the bedroom, still attempting to kiss the desperation away between them.  Clothes were removed along the way and they fell frantic and entangled together on Will’s bed.  Remus found the scar on Will’s stomach, he traced his fingers along it and Will gasped.  They touched each other scars with reverence, the understanding that the memory of pain can be permanently etched onto your body, an inescapable reminder of your past.

They moved together trying to console the inconsolable, a mutual sorrow that found a mirror in the other.  Arched backs and moans of lust, distraction and emptied minds, feeling something, finally touching warmth instead of the howling cold.

\-------

 

Will woke up to a wintry light spilling through the window and a splitting headache, he groaned.  He remembered only fragments of last night, good fragments, his body ached.  He looked over at the sleeping man next to him, brown hair with silvery strands fanned over his face.  He wondered what on earth he had been thinking. 

Remus opened his eyes and smiled.  Will could see now in the morning light his smile was softer than the one he had been reminded of, it was a smile that held memories of heartbreak of learning to be alone but never wanting to be.

“Morning.”  Remus said he voice was croaky and Will laughed.

“Morning.  I don’t remember going to sleep.  I mean I remember the before but then it’s a blur.”

Remus smiled he was glad Will couldn’t remember him performing a simple wandless, cleaning spell on both of them just before Will lost consciousness.   “How’s the head?”

“Sore.”  Will grimaced, “you?”

“Like I have a herd of hippogriffs running through it.”

“Hippo what?”

Remus really needed to get better at being around muggles, he used to be better at this he was sure. “Mythical beasts. Very large, very moody.”

Will laughed “okay I’ll take your word for it.”

Remus reached out and touched Will’s forehead “close your eyes” Will did as instructed and Remus whispered a simple healing spell, one of the first they had learnt to help with hangovers.

“How did you-?”  Will opened his eyes, headache gone.

“Magic.” Remus smiled and leant across and kissed Will, it was slower this morning filled with less regret.

“Well I may not have magical powers but I do have coffee.” 

“Sounds good.” Remus ran his fingers through Will’s hair.

“I need to let the dogs out, I’ll put the coffee on.  Help yourself if you want a shower, clean towels are in there.”

“Thanks.”

 

 

Will walked the pack and fed them coming back in to the smell of brewing coffee and the sound of the shower running.  He poured himself coffee and looked at the snow that was starting to fall and found he was smiling.

Remus appeared a few moments later dressed with damp hair.  Will smiled and have him coffee.  “It’s started to snow again.  I can always drive you home.”

“Do you need me to go?”

“No, I don’t mean it like that I just meant it you don’t want to walk in the snow.”

Remus smiled, “it’s okay I have some things I need to do today anyway, I won’t be here long.”

Will walked towards him “you don’t have to leave.”

“I know.”

Will smiled and breathed a sigh of relief “sorry I’m not very good at this, it’s been a while.”

Remus leaned in and kissed Will on the cheek “for me too don’t worry.  I think we established our shared track record of relationships, we can navigate whatever this is together.  It doesn’t have to happen again, we can just take it slow see what happens.  I would like it to happen again though for the record.”

Will smiled “yeah I don’t think I’d mind if it did.”

“Good.” 

Remus refused Will’s offer of a lift, and made his way through the snow until he was out of sight and he could apparate straight to the street where the small apothecary he needed was.

Will watched him go and could have sworn that once he was out of sight he heard a loud snap. 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Will and Remus spend more time together as Remus tries a new cure.

Remus apparates in front of the small Apothecary in Baltimore, it’s down a small alleyway next to a strange looking jewellers that does not seem to have ever been open.  He pulls his coat closer around him its cold and the snow is falling even in the city.  He looks at the Apothecary which looks as all Apothecary’s should; dark, dingy and slightly threatening.  He sighs, tries the door it’s locked, he rings the old rusted bell, it makes no sound at least not out here.  Remus waits knowing this is usually part of the whole process of being mysterious, Wizards are so predictable, he thinks.  Then his thoughts wander to Will and last night, he smiles, a true smile it’s been a long time since he managed one of those and it feels strange but also nice.  He shuffles his feet again it’s too cold for this so he rings the bell again.

He is about to get his wand out and unlock the door with magic when it is opened by a young girl, not at all what he expects.

“Sorry, shop is larger than you think, takes longer to get to the door.”  The girls speaks as if she is from the east end of London, again not what he was expecting perhaps some Wizards aren’t as predictable as he thinks.

“Hi, I made an appointment through a friend.” Remus gauges her reaction to this, nothing.

“Oh.”  The girl looks at him as if she is looking through him, she leans in closer and peers into his eyes. “Of course, sorry should have seen it straight away. Come in.”

Remus smiles and the girl moves out of the doorway holding the door open so Remus can enter the shop.  It’s nothing at all what he expected it’s almost clinical, there are glass bottles everywhere connected with various tubes, small flames under some of them.  The lighting is also muggle electrical and very bright he can hear a slight buzzing from the long plastic tubes in the ceiling.

The girl closes the door behind her and locks it she looks at Remus and laughs “yeah it’s not what most people expect.  I do things a bit differently from most wizards, I combine muggle science with magic.”

Remus looks incredulous “isn’t that dangerous?”

“Almost certainly but then some would say so are you.  Sometimes it’s worth taking the risk.”  She smiles broadly and Remus is suddenly aware she has very blue eyes, the kind that look like bottomless wells of water.

“True.  So you are who I have been in contact with.”  Remus just had an image in his head and this small girl who clearly not just a girl was not what he had expected.

“Didn’t think I was a girl?  Yeah most people assume I am some kind of old man with a hooked nose, Wizards they are so predictable.  Partly why I moved to the States, much more obliging here, but yes I am Flimpton, actually it’s Doctor Flimpton but that doesn’t really float in magic circles.  You are Remus yes?  Remus Lupin?”  Remus nods and she puts out her hand for him to shake which he does, she has a very firm handshake.  “Nice to meet you Remus Lupin.  Well let’s see what we can do.” She ushers Remus through the shop, down a very long hallway which has various rooms or more accurately, he supposes, labs coming off of it.  She was not kidding when she said the shop was larger than it appears.  They go down several flights of stairs and down a few more long corridors until eventually she leads him to what looks like an examination room.  There is a small bed, a curtain that goes around it, a small desk with what Remus believes is a muggle computer and printer, various other medical instruments.

“If you could please change into one of the gowns so I can examine you.”  She points to a pile of folded hospital gowns on a shelf by the bed.  “Please draw the curtain, get on the bed when you are ready and give me a shout.”

“Why do you need do you need to examine me?”  Remus asks looking at the hospital gowns with a grimace on his face.

“I need to make sure that the dosage I give you is correct I will also need to take a detailed history.  It’s a very delicate medicine.”  She says this as if he a fool for even thinking this was going to go any other way.

“Medicine?”

“Yes I prefer the term medicine over potion or spell its more accurate.  As I said what I do is a combination of what you call muggle science and magic, to me magic is just an offshoot anyway.” 

“An offshoot?” 

“Yes, basic principles apply in both cases.”  Remus goes to respond and she holds her hand up to stop him. “Look I don’t have all day, please get undressed so we can get on with this or leave.” 

Remus looks at her again and realises she is serious. “Sorry, yeah okay.”  He shuffles his way to the bed and draws the curtain.  He can hear her, what he assumes is, typing away on the computer, as he takes off all his clothes folding them and putting them on the small chair under the shelf he then takes one of the gowns and puts it on.  Remus lies on the bed, sighs and says “ready.”

Doctor Flimpton does not immediately come in after a few moments of listening to her tapping away she draws back the curtain.  She is holding a clipboard with paper and what looks like a muggle pen, a biro he believes.

“So Remus, may I call you Remus?”

“Yes that’s fine.”

“So Remus, you were infected as child?”

“Infected?”

“Yes I prefer it as a term it reflects how I approach it as an affliction, a disease which needs to be cured or managed.”

“Cured?”

“Well I am not there yet but managing yes I have had a few successful trials.  You are aware this is experimental?”

“Of course.”

“So from a child?”

“Yes I was ‘infected’ as you put it as a child.”

“Have you found the episodes have worsened with age?”

“Episodes?”

She sighs “yes, again medical terminology, when you turn, have they been worse?”

“Yes.”  So much worse, his stretches his legs slightly and his knees crack.

Doctor Flimpton scrunches up her face and makes a note with her pen.  “Hmm.  Let’s get to your bone density later.  Firstly how much do you remember from each transformation?  Is it more or less as you get older?”

“Same only fragments more a feeling some images but nothing concrete.”

“Uh huh.” She says this is a non-comital tone.

“And pain, worse?”

“Yes.”

“Recovery period increased?”

“Yes.”

“I see, right let me do a few tests.”  She puts the clipboard down and rubs her hands together to warm them, Remus looks nervous. “Nothing to worry about Remus.”  She starts with his knees feeling the joints, then she runs her hands down his shins and looks at his feet.  She does a reflex test with a small plastic hammer and notes down the creak in his knee when it moves.  After being poked and prodded she then tells him to get dressed and come out when he is ready, she leaves him pulling the curtain back behind her.  Remus can then hear typing again.

He gets dressed and leaves the gown on the bed he draws the curtain and she motions for him to sit on the chair next to the desk which he does.  “Won’t be a moment.” She says still typing, peering at the screen and clicking her tongue as she does calculations in her head.

Eventually she turns and looks at him “right Remus, I think we can start you off on a small dose, it will be rough.  The side effects are not good.  Do you have anyone who can keep an eye on you while you start the first course?”

“No, I live alone.”

“Yes common problem with your issue.” She says this with no judgement just experience, she doesn’t understand it herself, it’s a disease something outside of the persons control.  People and especially Wizards can be so ridiculous.  “Well in that case I will have to check in on you myself.  Do you have a phone? At your house or a mobile?”

“A phone?” Remus is not sure what she means.

She sighs and reaches into her desk drawer and removes a plastic box which she gives to Remus, she then opens another drawer and takes out another muggle looking device and gives that to him.

“It’s fully charged and my number is in it.  When the little symbol in the corner is empty it means it needs to be charged with this.”  She picks up the plug and cable. “Do you have muggle electricity in your house?”

“Um yes I think so.”

“Okay well put this in the socket on the walls that have holes shaped liked these pins and put the smaller end into the hole at the bottom of the phone.”  She shows Remus this and he nods.  She then shows him how to get her number and dial.  “I have the number too and will ring you on it, it makes a beeping sound press this green button here and talk into it.  Okay?”

“Yeah.”  Remus has no idea why this woman is insisting on using muggle things but whatever.  She then goes through the ‘medication’ and what he needs to do and lists the side effects which do not sound good at all, but she hopes it will mean his next cycle will be less and the wolf more calm.  The more his body gets used to the medication the more manageable the wolf becomes.  That’s the idea anyway.

“Are you sure you can’t ask someone to check in on you, a neighbour?” 

Remus smiles and thinks of Will, the closest he has to anyway at the moment.  “Afraid not, the only person I have met since moving here is a muggle.”

She sighs “well they don’t need to know why you are taking the medication.  Perhaps just let them know you will be unwell for a few days ask if they could check in on you.”

“Perhaps.”  He doesn’t really want to bother Will he has enough going on the last thing he needs is Remus adding to his troubles.

“Consider it?”

“Yes, I will.”

“Okay I think you are all set I will ring you in a few days to see how you are getting on any problems call.”

\-------

 

Will has been back teaching for a month, Jack pulling strings to get him his position again, he wasn’t even sure he wanted to go back but had no other choice.  He is still not sure he wants to be there, he can still feel Hannibal everywhere he goes especially in the eyes of his colleagues filled to the brim with questions he doesn’t want to answer.  His students however hover less than they used to they seem scared, they whisper about him but he doesn’t care, he barely notices.  He is going through the motions and they all know it.  Jack knows it.  Will knows Jack will still call on him if he’s needed and he really hopes that doesn’t happen, if it does he may just pack up and leave, he may anyway.

His heart is a little lighter today though, Remus being an interesting diversion, he finds that part of his thoughts are going to him rather than Hannibal which makes a nice change.  They are similar though, at least Remus is similar to Hannibal when he first met him before he fully knew him.  Remus has been through trauma and is still going through it as Will is.  _It’s nice to have some company_. Will is reminded of a beaten Hannibal saying the same to him once in a different life.  He wonders how Remus’ day is going whether he has found what he was looking for.

Will drives back home through the snow and finds his car is making its way to Remus’ he doesn’t really know why he just feels a pull there.  He drives up, parks and get out of the car, the lights are on in the house but it’s quiet.  He notices the shed is fixed, _that was quick_ , he thinks. 

Knocking on the door he can hear Remus being sick, the door is open so he lets himself in. “Remus?”  Will says and makes his way towards the retching coming from the bathroom.  “Remus?  Its Will are you okay?”

Will hears the toilet flush, water running on then off and then the door opens to reveal a very pale Remus, in fact he almost looks green. “Remus!  Are you okay?”  Will helps him to his bed and lies him down. “What’s going on with you?”

Remus groans “this new medication, side effects are not good.”

“Yeah I can see that.”  Will puts a blanket over him and feel his forehead it’s cold and clammy.  “Is this what is supposed to happen?  Should I call a doctor?”

“Yes, it is, she told me it would be bad, it should get better.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, I already feel better.”

“Yeah you look great.”  Will grimaces and Remus smiles then winces at the effort.

“What are you doing here anyway?  Not that it isn’t good to see you.”

“I was driving home and I just ended up here I don’t really know why.”

Remus smiles, _that witch blood again_.  “Well thank you and I’m sorry I am not in the best of states.”

“Are you supposed to be alone?”

Remus laughs at how good a legilimens Will is “the doctor gave me a phone thing I think she is going to call and check in on me.”

Will laughs at the fact that Remus has clearly never had a phone before.  “You didn’t answer the question.  Is someone supposed to stay with you?”

“Yeah, but I’m fine I just need to sleep.”

“Remus you look like you are on deaths door.  Where is the phone you were given?”  Remus points at the nightstand.  Will picks up the phone and leaves Remus to call the only number in the phone.  Remus can hear Will talking but is and out of consciousness.  A few moments later Will returns and places the phone on the bedside table.  “Okay I have spoken to her, she is a strange one.  Called me a muggle whatever that means.  She says it sounds like you are having a normal reaction and should start to feel better tomorrow.  In the meantime I am going to stay and make sure you don’t choke on your own vomit or something.  I have to go get the dogs and then I will be back.”  Will places a bucket he retrieved from the kitchen by Remus’ bed “if you need to be sick there is bucket, I put my number in your phone as well so you can ring me.  I won’t be long.”

“Will you don’t have to do this.”

“I’ll be back.  Try and sleep.”

 

Will returns with his dogs who he settles in the small lounge.  He then makes his way to the bedroom and places a glass of water on the bedside table, he puts a hand on Remus’ forehead its warmer which the Doctor said would happen. Will checks the bowl, Remus hasn’t been sick again that’s good, he appears to be sleeping fitfully but asleep.  Will sits in then chair in the corner of the room with the book he brought, Winston wonders in and curls up at his feet. 

He looks at Remus and is reminded of waking up to find Hannibal sat at the end of his bed, of telling him to leave, of thinking he had… He shakes his head and dispels the image looking at Remus instead, he can see the scars more clearly now all over his body.  They are silvery lines like a web all over his skin, Will frowns and wonders what on earth is wrong with this man.  He watches as Remus’ eyes flicker behind his eyelids, a small moan leaves his lips it’s almost a whine Will thinks.  Winston perks up and then decides to go back to sleep.  Another whimper and Will smiles, gets up and goes to lie next to Remus.  He strokes his hair and soothes him until Remus eventually settles into a more peaceful sleep.  Will smiles at the fact that Remus is like a dog when he sleeps, down to the occasional twitching of his legs as if he is running.

 

 

Will wakes in the morning and finds that Remus is still sleeping, he feels his forehead again more normal.  He gets up lets the dogs out for a run and then makes tea taking a mug into Remus who is starting to stir.

“Morning.”  Will says and puts the mug down on the bedside table.

Remus opens his eyes looks confused “what?”

“You don’t remember?”  Will says and sits down on the bed next to Remus.  “The doctor said you might have some memory loss.  I came by last night and found you throwing up, rang your doctor she encouraged me to stay so I did.”

Remus sighs “thank you, you didn’t have to do that.”

“Not a problem, I have put my number into your phone as well so you can call me if you need to.  Do you want to see if you can sit up, have some tea?”

Remus nods and Will helps him to sit up and gives him the mug.  “Thank you Will.”

“Has anyone ever told you sleep like a dog, whining and twitching?”

Remus laughs “yeah, I have been told that.”

“How do you feel?”  Will places his hand on Remus’s forehead again.

“Weak but better I think.”

“When are you supposed to take the second dose?”

“What time is it?”

“Eight.”

“Late morning, around ten I think.”

“Okay well I think I should stay for round two.  Let me call work.”

“No, Will honestly its fine, thank you but you don’t have to stay.”

“Remus I am not leaving you.  Plus any excuse to not go to work I am taking.  You don’t have to tell me what all this is about if you don’t want to, you can if you like.  No pressure okay but I am staying.”

 

\-----

 

Remus feels better later in the day and second dose makes him feel nauseous but he isn’t throwing up, they are both on the bed surrounded by Will’s dogs.  Will wishes he had brought some cards, Remus almost suggests chess and then remembers that muggle chess is very different to wizarding chess and trying to explain why the figures move would be tricky.  Instead Will is reading to him from one of Remus’ books, its one on mystical beasts and Will finds it hilarious.  Remus explains it’s supposed to be fiction and hopes he won’t get to the bit about werewolves if he does he will just have to distract him.

He watches Will as he reads and enjoys seeing the smile across his face when he gets to the bit about hippogriffs.

“These are the ones you said about?”

“Yes.”

“They are brilliant, they sound like Buster.”

“Which one is Buster?”

“The one that found you he is small but mighty, he is also very stubborn.”

“Well hippografs are not small but yes very stubborn and proud.”

Will pushes aside the fact that Remus sounds as if he knows hippografs because he has met them. “Brilliant.  I can’t believe I haven’t heard of this book before, I guess maybe it’s an English thing?”

Remus smiles “yeah something like that.”

Will puts the book down and looks at Remus “what do you mean?  I honestly feel like you are having a joke at my own expense a lot!  What am I missing?”

Remus smiles and laugh, he takes Will’s hand and thinks that out of all the muggles he could have found he would find one who is an unconscious legilimens who investigates people for a living.  “I am not laughing at you Will I promise not after how you have looked after me, there are just some elements to my life that I can’t tell you about, you would not believe me if I told you.”

“Like what’s wrong with you?”

“Yes, like that.”

Will frowns he can’t turn his interested brain off, he is an investigator after all.  “I wish you would” he says looking down at Remus’ hand on his.

“I know but trust me you are better off not knowing.”

“If you are not telling me because you think I might judge you or be shocked trust me I won’t.”

“I know that Will, I know you well enough now.”

“I just want you to know you can talk to me if you need to.”

“I know and thank you.  You can talk to me too.  Why don’t you want to go to work?”

Will smiles but it does not reach his eyes his still looking at Remus’ hands and the scars on his skin. “Ahh well, it’s just strange, I feel as if I am somewhere I shouldn’t be now.  I am haunting my old life, pretending I am still the same person when I know I’m not.”

“After Hannibal?”

“Yeah.”  Will thinks of Botticelli and before you and after you.  “I think my life will always be split in two before and after.  I feel like I am trying to live in the before.”

“Why don’t you leave?”

Will laughs “I have thought about it, I think about it every day.  You left.  How’s that working out?”

Remus smiles “I have never had too much to leave, always on the move, I had something but I need to fix me before I can go back.  I have spent most of my adult life running.”

“From what?”

“From everything, from everyone.  I don’t really fit in anywhere, well maybe once at school, but not since then.”

Will leans his head on Remus’ shoulder, their hands are still grasped together fingers intertwined. “That’s hard a life always on the move.”

“You get used to it.”

“I never really had a family, growing up was just me and my dad.  Since he passed I haven’t really been all that close to anyone, well…”

“Except Hannibal.”

“Yeah except him.”

“Maybe you should go and see him get some closure.”

“The last time I saw him I told him I didn’t want to think about him, see him or know where he was.  He then gave himself up just so I would do all those things.  I can’t see him.”

Remus kisses the top of Will’s head, his hair smells like grass it’s endearing. “You need to let him go even if he won’t let you go.”

“Easier said than done.”

“Yes, yes it is.  Maybe distance would help, maybe you should leave.”

“Maybe.”  Will closes his eyes and finds he is dozing, he feels at peace here in this bed with this strange man.  “I just don’t know where I’d go and if he would just follow me anyway, always in my head.”

Remus nods at that he knows what that’s like he hears Sirius’ voice so clearly in his head sometimes it’s like he is standing right next to him.  “We can never outrun our own minds.”

“No, no we can’t.”  Will sighs and listens to Remus breath, “what was he like? Sirius?”

Remus closes his eyes and conjures Sirius’ face and easy smile “he was constantly moving, a blur of energy, if you could catch him, if you could gain his attention it was searing, all consuming.  We became so connected as if we were the same person.”

“Conjoined” Will says bitterly.

“Exactly.”

\--------

Will stays with Remus most nights when he gets back from work, the pack have even moved in with Remus and surround him all the time treating him as one of their own and Will jokes he is part dog, which causes Remus to make a strange face and the change the subject.  They spend their evenings playing cards and chess (a human set that Will brought over, which Remus finds dull at first but likes to look Will’s hands and his face when he concentrates).  Will drinks firewhiskey and Remus likes to kiss him to taste it as he daren’t have any himself.

Remus is starting to feel better and walks Will’s dogs in the day it reminds him of better days being a part of a pack.  Remus cooks for Will who drunkenly tells Remus about Hannibal and who he was and what he did.  Remus isn’t shocked he has seen a lot in his days and he wants to tell Will about dark magic some of which he is sure runs in Will’s veins but he doesn’t, he just kisses him and tastes his tears.   They make love slowly on Remus’ bed, mapping each other’s scars with mouths and fingertips, Will takes his time watching as Remus slowly breaks apart and moans his name almost like a howl and it makes Will smile.

The time comes for Remus to go back for his check-up and second stronger dose, Will offers to drive him and Remus refuses.

“How will you get there?  You don’t have a car?  Where is this place?”  Will asks as they eat breakfast on Remus’ bed which they rarely leave when Will isn’t at work.

“Will I got there before on my own it will be fine.”

“You are only just feeling better and you will need all your strength for this second dose.  Can’t she come to you?  If you explain you don’t have a car?”

“Will, seriously don’t worry about it.”

“You are still so mysterious you know so much about me, why won’t you tell me what’s going on?”  Will isn’t angry about this he understands that Remus needs his privacy, he understands it and he knows this isn’t love between them just comfort but he cares about Remus and wants to help.

Remus smiles and puts his coffee down and leans over and kisses Will to distract him. “I love that you care so much but I need to do this on my own.”

“I can stay in the car.”

Remus kisses him again and Will sighs into it knowing he is never going to win this argument so he let’s Remus kiss his way down Will’s chest until he takes his cock into his mouth and gives Will one of the best blow jobs he’s ever had.

\-----

The second dose is worse and Will spends the night mopping Remus’s brow and placing cold washcloths on his neck as he throws up into the bucket Will has put by the bed so he doesn’t have to move.  Will rings the doctor and is told its normal and he should feel better in the morning.  It’s a long night and Remus is incoherent when he isn’t throwing up, he mostly whimpers and wines, Will thinks his eyes look different but he isn’t sure.

Will calls in sick to work the next day and spends it watching Remus sleep he twitches and scratches himself in his sleep, he reminds Will of his dogs even more so when they all surround the bed and are sleeping at the same time.  Remus wakes up enough to have some tea and is then back to a fitful sleep again.  Will crawls in beside Remus to sleep which seems to calm him.  Will strokes his hair and he Remus mumbles something Will can’t understand but then sleeps.

Will wakes up at first he thinks Winston has snuck into the bed in the night.  He then realises two things Remus is not in the bed and he was when he went to sleep, Winston is sat on the floor looking at the dog next to Will and whining.  Will looks at the apparently sleeping large dog in the bed next to him, he can see that the pyjamas he put Remus in are torn and shredded surrounding this creature who is snoring heavily and making an eerily similar sound to Remus’ whine.

Will carefully gets out of the bed and stands and stares.  There must be an explanation.  He looks at the ‘dog’ and realises two more things; that’s not a dog it’s a wolf, a large one and that it has the same hair colour as Remus.  Will rubs his eyes and yeah it’s still there, he pinches himself, it’s still there, he feels his own forehead, not hot.  He carefully leaves the room and searches the rest of the house for Remus who is nowhere to be seen.  He comes back to bedroom the wolf is still in the bed and now it seems to be awake and looking at him.  Will realises it has Remus’ eyes.  Will thinks he has finally after all this time gone completely mad, not encephalitis mad but proper batshit crazy.  The wolf then stands up and sees Will it makes it jumps off the bed and Winston moves away, it makes its way to Will and nuzzles at his hand.

Will looks at the wolf nuzzling at his hand whispers softly “Remus?”

The wolf looks up at hearing its name and nuzzles its head against Will’s leg.  Will closes his eyes and counts to ten, still feeling the wolf’s breath on his leg, he opens his eyes it’s still there.

“This is not happening.”  Will says as the wolf saunters past Will and curls up in a ball by the door and goes back to sleep.

Will closes his eyes again and counts to ten, because the definition of madness is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results, he has gone mad so may as well embrace it.  He slowly turns around and makes his way to where the wolf is sleeping.  He watches wide eyed and terrified as the wolf slowly turns back into Remus.

“Remus?”  Will eventually hears himself say.

Remus opens his eyes and realises two things; he is naked and not in the bed, Will is starring at him like he has just witnessed him change from a wolf into a man and that’s when he realises a third thing – that Will has just witnessed this.  Remus groans and stands up.

“Will.”  Remus holds out a hand and speaks gently “it’s okay I can explain.”

“How how how can….what…are we both mad?”  Will stammers and has not moved he looks pale.

Remus grabs the blanket he keeps on the back of the sofa wraps it around himself he slowly approaches Will.  “What happened?”  Remus asks.

“You, I, you were, I woke up and there was a…. a wolf and then it….it came out here and then….then it was you.”

“Did I, did it hurt you?”

Will looks at Remus then “what are you?”

“I will explain but please tell me are you okay?”  Remus checks Will over and he isn’t hurt, that’s good, actually Remus thinks that’s amazing.  He guides Will to the sofa and gets him to sit down, he then gets the bottle of firewhiskey and a glass pours him some and gives the glass to Will which he downs in one.  “I am a werewolf Will.”

Will laughs, at first it’s a slow laugh and then it builds to hysteria, tears streaming down his face. “Of course.  I fall in love with a cannibal and rebound with a werewolf, of course.”

Remus grimaces at that. “Will calm down here, have another whiskey.”  Remus refills his glass.

Will downs it again and manages to catch his breath and looks at Remus “I’m hallucinating.  It would not be the first time.  Werewolves don’t exist.”

“Will yes they do and no you are not hallucinating.  You saw me turn.  The doctor said the medication calms the wolf down so it’s more like a dog, she said my cycles might be off as the wolf is calmed inside me, it’s why I have been whimpering and thrashing in my sleep.”

Will looks at Remus and realises he is being serious.  They are both mad or Remus isn’t real.  Maybe he has hallucinated this whole thing.  “I am hallucinating.  You aren’t real.”

“Will I promise you I am real.” 

“How?”

“Well you know how I said there are things about my life that I can’t tell you well this is part of that.  I am wizard.”

“I thought you were a werewolf?”  Will laughs.

Remus smiles “I’m both.  Magic is real, all those creatures in that book they are real, they are just not a part of your world, when the doctor called you a muggle that’s what you are a non-magic person it’s what we call you or no-mage in this country.”

“What are you talking about?”

“It may be easier to show you.  Let me get dressed.”  Remus leaves he pulls on some clothes and then returns holding a long stick.

Will laughs “is that you wand?!”

“Actually yes.”  Remus says and raises it says “Lumos.”  A light appears at the end of the stick and Will laughs.

“It’s a trick.”

“Okay I can see we will need something a bit more impressive.”  Remus extinguishes the light with a mutter of ‘nox’.  He stands further away and holds his wand out high and says “expecto patronum.”  As he does this the room is filled with a bright light and then a wolf appears out of Remus’s wand and flies up and around the room.  Will stares at it then at Remus who is smiling.  “It’s my patronus we all have them, Wizards, mine is a wolf for obvious reasons but they change depending on the person.”

“What the..?”

“Will I can make you forget all this if you want?  I should really you aren’t supposed to know about wizards.”

“That’s what you meant when you said you could take it all away, you could make me forget Hannibal as well?”

“Yes.”

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments help keep Remus calm and encourage me to write ridiculous crossovers like this! Will eats kudos with milk for breakfast.


End file.
